Editorial: Wet weather means more outdoor pests

The National Weather Service in Springfield is reporting that this is the wettest June on record.

Rainfall Saturday broke an 80-year-old record set at the Springfield National Airport, as 1.74 inches fell, bringing the month’s total to 13.41 inches. This shattered the old record set in 1928 of 12.27 inches for the month of June.

The record rain will likely bring about record increases in the number of common summertime pests: More ticks, more chiggers, more spiders and more mosquitoes.

Please be aware of ticks. Wear long pants while working outdoors, and be sure to use a repellent high in DEET to keep pests from biting you.

Also be aware that in damp conditions, more outdoor pests want to move indoors, including black widow and brown recluse spiders. Black widows tend to get into places such as beneath house siding and hose reels, while brown recluses tend to hide in storage areas, such as boxes in basements and attics.

And be sure to check your yard for mosquito breeding grounds. Common ones are tires and child wading pools, but others include plastic trash cans. Dump or drain kiddie pools, keep lids firmly in place on trash cans so they will not collect rain water, and haul away old tires.

We can’t do anything about the rain, but we can prevent and curb outbreaks of outdoor pests.